


Freedom

by AnHeiressofaSOLDIER



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Also Ignis shows up here but I ain't tagging him and giving people false hope or somethin', Also Luna being a bit Stella-y possibly if you maybe want to see it that way, Also Noctis doesn't rape Luna in this or anything like that, And sorting through her issues her abounds, Concept Art, F/M, FFXV AU, For TsundereDreamer because I think we both sort of write/like Luna like this, Kingsglaive Luna for sure. Moreso than game Luna, Lime, Majorly fucked up Luna though, Noctis and Luna actually get to meet up and this happens, Rather Caligo did when she was a child, The Luna from my The Violet of Royalty story pretty much, Though game Luna is still canon and fits here mostly, Valentine's Day, Written for Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:23:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13717611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnHeiressofaSOLDIER/pseuds/AnHeiressofaSOLDIER
Summary: Upon actually reuniting with Noctis, by some miracle—and in some steamy time with him, and then some being treated like glass by both Noctis and Ignis instances—Luna has to sort through her feelings for Noct and of her life, just what she wants, and perhaps even deal with a wee bit of madness on her part—as she prepares to finally commit to a relationship she’s been in for twelve years: when he suddenly brings such beauty and something else to her.





	Freedom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TsundereDreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsundereDreamer/gifts).



**Luna’s PoV**

Luna sighed in merriment:  
  
She was just... so happy.  
  
Yes: her condition of getting to Noctis had not been the most… glamorous (they had gotten out through the sewers, when some of Lucis' propaganda that they’d secretly sent the Tenebraeen hostages got through to them. These propositions had told the people of Tenebrae not to act like slaves, but to rather take up arms against their oppressors. And they had), but Luna would never regret it in all her life.  
  
But funnily enough, it wasn't going through the contaminated water that had bothered Luna the most, but rather when a spare shuriken—used by a certain man who'd looked much older than his age—had clipped her in the shoulder during the escape.  
  
Really, Luna couldn’t figure out how she _hadn’t_ guessed mishaps like that would happen...

The men and women they’d called to their senses had not been soldiers at all, after all, but just ordinary people—and so it was a complete miracle they'd been able to accomplish what they had at all—…and yet she'd been imagining them as more skilled in combat somehow.  
  
And it was the fact that they hadn't been that led the Oracle to the only amount of discomfort she was feeling right now...

But it didn't matter. She was at the Leville in Lestallum with her sweet fiancé, and life was everything she could have ever asked for.  
  
Even if they were having to worry about pipes at the moment….

There was something completely wrong with them, and the room was absolutely freezing for that reason.  
  
Luna wasn't entirely sure how long she and Noct were planning to stay here—or his dear friends, that she was so glad to finally be meeting!—but they were clearly going to have to do _something_ about the issue.

Or try to stay warm another way?

"We could try using duct take to insulate them," Luna threw out there... to which Noctis instantly laughed, making her feel quite humiliated.  
  
The Oracle didn't know much about this kind of stuff, of course…  
  
But she thought that since there were cracks and holes in the ducts that were supposed to be providing them heat, that doing what she’d suggested might fix matters? But what did she know?  
  
And Noctis was quick to echo that idea—but as he rubbed soothing circles into her injured shoulder; so it didn’t hurt as much as it could have:  
  
"Luna... you're only saying that because the girl who was supposed to be your surrogate sister did that to her windows—according to you—and it worked wonders… I suppose."  
  
Bella.

Luna had almost completely forgotten about her.

And if she was being truthful with herself for a change, Luna was actually taken aback that _Noctis_ would remember such a thing.  
  
As Luna scooted forward on the bed that she and Noctis were both currently occupying—and dropped some Pay Day candy wrappers onto his head as she moved, because she still didn't want this to be too much of a Valentine cliché between them—she found herself reminiscing about Bella.  
  
She'd somewhat blocked her ex-sibling out of her mind, when her servants had made it pretty clear to her that her friend had been using her, but...  
  
Bella was a girl who had fallen into Tenebrae in the midst of a meteor shower.  
  
And of course the royal family had instantly taken the poor girl in, and had nursed her back to health—Lunafreya, Sylva, and Ravus had even all been wondering if the gods had sent her to them for some reason.  
  
Though none of them had ridiculously thought she was an alien, or anything like that, but rather that she had fallen hard off of one of Tenebrae's floating islets that were only connected to the mainland through chains of vegetation.  
  
And Luna? She had instantly seen Bella—which was the name they'd ended up giving her—as her soul sister.  
  
She had had the yellow-est, long blonde hair, that she’d kept up in a side ponytail with bows... always.  
  
And she'd had the cutest fashion sense too, that had awakened the desire to be a designer within Luna:

How could a black long sleeve shirt—over a small pair of shorts—with thigh-high boots _not_ have done that?  
  
And as for Bella's personality... she'd been the kindest and purest person you'd ever meet in your life—always donating to charity, and putting smiles on people’s faces—but Luna had always thought there’d been something really dark beneath that exterior.  
  
Luna had _liked_ seeing that sort of thing in someone, despite the fact it should have been sacrilegious to her, and it had made her think that she _could_ have a bit of a life outside of the gods and what they wanted for her...

And that she could even be a fan of things that the Six weren’t—like impossible dreams, according to Gentiana—and still not be the least bit disrespectful to them with it, or regretting their existence and what was to come.

Rather, Luna had continued to _love_ the gods... even with the new side to her.  
  
But it was soon after Luna received that gift, that she’d learned Bella had just been using her and Ravus (and even their mother Sylva, once upon a time… back when Queen Sylva had still been alive) to be a princess. (1)

And even when they'd been children... there had been signs of that.  
  
The moment that Luna had learned the preteen had thrown  _herself_ from the island, on the off-chance her Queen would bring her into her household, she hadn’t been able to take it anymore. And Ravus even less so.

They'd banished their sibling to the outskirts of Tenebrae, and had never looked back.  
  
Though sometimes… when she was out curing people, Luna wondered if she should have exactly done that:

Because the amount of gil that Luna would have been able to give her wonderful and sick people through Bella—because Niflheim had cared less about what she did, and hadn’t raised an eyebrow when she’d used her “money from work” to assist people—really would have been something.

But Bella had shattered both Luna and Ravus’ hearts, and there’d been no coming back from that.  
  
"I can’t believe Bella’s on your mind at all," Luna finally admitted—leaning hard into Noctis' touch, so that it harmed her injured upper arm now.  
  
Luna was choosing to see it as her punishment this instance, because if she had kept Bella… maybe she, somehow, could have kept some of the Tenebraeens from becoming treated like slaves in the first place.  
  
"Pfft. Lulu Beans, I remember what _all_ the people who actually matter to me say. And this girl hurt you worse than anyone else ever had—and it showed in your writings—so of _course_ I recall it... even if I never did meet her, oddly enough."

Luna blinked at this.

On one hand, she found herself being overwhelmed by emotion for Noctis’ declaration—so part of the reason she’d closed her eyes at all, was to try and fight back the tears—and wanting not to be.

After all, the Oracle was just trying to have a silly day with her Noctis—a day she never thought she’d get, after the Empire had forcibly separated them twelve years ago—as the two of them tried to reconnect, and figure out just _how_ truthful and forthcoming they’d been in their letters to each other.

So as ecstatic as Lunafreya was now—and she even had been before this. Was that not why she had embraced Noctis in tears the moment she’d finally reached him, just a few hours ago?—she wasn’t sure she wanted to have a nervous breakdown and possibly scare away her Light of the Night Sky because of it.

But at the same time… how could she _not_ let Noctis know just how much he meant to her after his candor?

And so Luna decided to compromise: she’d emote, but also keep it all under wraps _some_.

Curling up in Noct’s arms even moreso, she pressed her bare feet against his leg and breathed in contentment for it the same moment that he did.

While what she was doing could have been construed as sexual—and Luna wasn’t entirely sure if she’d ruled out that possibility for them this morning yet, or not—it more than anything felt like something lovers would do… and probably had been doing since the dawning of the time, in being close and comfortable with their significant other in every way humanly possible.

Luna had dreamt about this sort of connection with Noct many a time—she knew they _both_ had: their Notebook bore witness to it—and in some ways, they’d even reached this sort of heaven in their quick blurbs to each other… but it was something else entirely to actually be _feeling_ contact with each other now.

Noctis breathed:

And it wasn’t too long after that, that Luna felt Noctis kissing her neck:

It was just a simple peck, as the prince showing his love for her.

He wasn’t trying to seduce her.

Yet:

So the dethroned princess had barely even felt his lips against her skin before those most magnificent of all lips were gone—but it still stirred something within her, as she looked at her fiancé with hooded eyes.

“Sorry, Luna,” Noctis said, breathing against the princess’ neck—seeming oblivious to the effect he was having on her with it… And even moreso this than what his lips right by her jugular had just done.

“It’s just- this is so stupid. I was thinking about our wedding night… and, as glad as I was at the idea of finally having you as my wife…

“Fuck. I sound so stupid. And stuffy. If I start seeming too much like one of those noble fuckers, who woulda done anything to have a hold on you—on the off-chance you got Tenebrae back—let me know.”

Luna laughed.

And just like that, any sensual thoughts she’d been having evaporated into thin air.

For the moment.

And even though that was heart breaking in some ways (Luna remembered well when she’d thought she could never let a man touch her again after the Caligo incident, so the fact that Noctis was making her feel for him now was a miracle and a half), she was also heavily amused by the turn of events:

She hugged a pillow to her chest, and laid her head against Noctis’ shoulder—reveling in just whatever it was he was trying to get across to her in his own way.

It felt so good to laugh, Luna thought..

When was the last time she even had? She honestly couldn’t remember it… but if anything could release a chuckle out of her, it was Noctis’ awkwardness for sure.

"Anyway, even though I was _down_ with the idea of you finally being free, if nothing else… I couldn’t help worrying about us being awful together… physically. What if we didn’t fit together? At all? And gods, I don’t even mean that in a sexual way… But feeling your skin against mine...

“Like, your foot just now? That was fine,” and Luna could tell by the lilt in his voice that it was more than that. She’d heard that kind of thing in people she’d come to the aid of before. When she’d done all she could for them, and all they really needed at that point was some moral support to get past their wound.

She’d often times instruct someone who was with them to just hold them… and usually based on the reactions one or both parties had, she could tell right away if there was some mutually unspoken attractive between them.

And somehow thinking of Noctis in that kind of way now made Luna really giddy, and she crinkled her eyes at him in mirth as he continued on.

“Usually, I’d probably freak out with something like that. I sometimes have a thing against feet, all right? I admit it. But… this was… well, it _was_. Probably because your toenails are painted a cute red. Umm…”  
  
At this point, Noctis was scratching his head. And it didn’t take too much to figure out that he was a complete fish out of water when it came to this kind of subject matter.  
  
A thought so hilarious, that Luna completely lost it.

But she sobered up when she noted Noctis had unintentionally interrupted what she’d been trying to tell him.

And even if Luna did want to play this evening cool (for a change. Because when had she ever played anything cool in her life? Hadn’t she grabbed onto her calling with an iron grip as a child, and never let it go?), she had to let Prince Charmless know this one thing...

“Noctis… I agree. How can I not? I’m finding that I’m feeling much the same way as you,”—and here Luna had to pause.

She was blushing.

And if the Oracle could have rolled her eyes at herself, she would have.

Here she was: talking as formal and clinical as she always did (though she really needed to stop that, in these kinds of encounters… these kinds of encounters she was probably going to have more and more of, gods be good)—so she should have been removed enough from the situation that she shouldn’t have been getting so flustered—but she couldn’t help herself from feeling.

…And Noctis must have noticed it:

He guffawed, and then dangled some of the candy wrappers in her face—as if trying to remind Luna that it had been _her_ idea to litter in this room, and make it look even trashier, that way so they could try and be casual with each other… though that idea had crashed and failed, hadn’t it?

“But I must tell you,” Luna finally continued on unperturbed—as she remembered how she cured the worst sort of affliction for her job, and had seen the worst things in this world: a fact that had long ago made her grow numb to most things.

And that apathy came to her aid here, as she tried so hard not to feel as she talked about _feelings_ of all things.

“I- I can’t thank you enough for remembering Bella. For me. And noticing that my writing differed when it came to her… and for just taking such interest in me in general. You partly wanted to marry me just so I’d be free from Niflheim, I know, and I- I thank you.”

No sooner had Luna said the word “thank you”, did she feel Noctis’ lips against her own.

And for one second, she was taken completely off-guard by it—the times she’d been raped came back to her with a vengeance.

And for one harsh moment, she was back in that dark room.

A child.

With every fiber of her being, Luna had to fight back her urge to push Noctis away.

But instead of doing that, far too soon did Luna find herself reacting to him in kind.

If Noctis’ lips could have been described as hard and fast against hers, then hers must have been lightning—as she nearly tore his lips open with her teeth.

Noctis was the one who put his arm around her waist—and surely moved to bring her closer—but it was _Luna_ who moved so that she was in his lap, with her legs on either side of him.

Their kiss continued on, as Noctis’ hands found the princess’ necklace and dipped lower and lower towards her breasts.

Luna tipped her head back and moaned—somewhat feeling embarrassed for it, in not wanting to be in a… _complete_ lack of control, like she had been that time.

She’d always imagined that if she and Noctis were actually blessed to meet like this, she’d makes sure to be the one eliciting reactions out of _him_ , and right now that wasn’t happening.

Or maybe it had.

Maybe she _had_ heard something out of him, when she’d locked her legs around him tightly—and cupped his face with both hands, and raised it up so that he could continue to makeout with her while his hands had other plans.

The calluses he had from working with his swords, even despite the fact he often wore fighting gloves, felt like the best or worst kind of drug—depending on your definition—to Luna.

And even though Luna _still_ wished that she were the one on top metaphorically, since she actually was physically here, there was a traitorous thought in her mind that thought maybe she _deserved_ to be dominated like this. And maybe even wanted it.

After all, she had allowed Noctis to buy her and send her that necklace, hadn’t she?…

And it was the fact that he was following it with his hands now—owning it, the way he currently was her—that was turning her into a big pile of goo.

There were words on Luna’s lips now—she wasn’t even entirely sure what they were, or what she’d hear if she uttered them—that she may have dared to speak, if Noctis had started slowing down with his ministrations.

He reached beside him, and Luna gathered that he was probably reaching for a condom—had he brought one with him for his journey, in the knowledge that they to be married?—and she almost wanted him _not_ to:

She wanted to feel him fully inside of her, without anything getting in the way of that.

And she was able to decide this, when all the love she felt for him—that had accumulated over years of talking to him in the Lovers’ Notebook—hit Luna like a ton of bricks; and she felt her walls tumbling down: thinking how foolish it was to distrust Noctis, of all people, when he was the best thing in her life.

“Noctis, I-”

Whatever fevered thing Luna had been about to tell her love was cut off when she felt her wrist caught by something, and yanked.

She then heard a click.

Noctis was no longer touching her anywhere, but rather was looking down at her… almost angrily?

“Uhh… Sorry, Lu. That got a lot more heated than I’d meant it to. I just needed to show you how much you mean to me, damnit, and to get you to stop selling yourself short.”

And Luna may have been imagining it—as logic or sanity had long sense left this room—but she thought Noctis sounded furious with _himself_ here.

What?

Was he upset he’d had to act like the wedding didn’t matter to him, so no one would think treasonous thoughts about them?  
  
If so, he had no reason to be. Luna had done the same thing, hadn’t she?

…Even if she had been terrible at it, and had probably too easily made Eos put two-and-two together that she thought the wedding was going to be the best experience of her life.

“I can get why you’d want me to have a better view of myself,” Luna finally admitted after a beat—having taken a moment to calm herself down some, and even pinch her arm to be sure that she wasn’t dreaming this craziness. “It was in watching some TV for the first time, in trying to come up with any clue to save the Tenebrae slaves—through media’s own idea about that kind of affair in fiction—that I saw that most girls probably would have killed me for saying to Gentiana what I had...”  
  
And even now—though there had been a long journey getting there—Luna could hardly believe she _had_ been unable to figure out what Noctis would want in her other than the Oracle.

“But… why am I handcuffed to the bed?”

“Because I’m planning to throw compliments at you all day, if I have to, and I was afraid you’d try and run otherwise.”

And suddenly, Noctis and Luna were in normal territory with each other again… almost.

Luna may have been beginning to think that Noctis was a sex god in her own head—because of the encounter they’d just had—but he clearly wasn’t. And it was just her love for him coloring her thoughts.

When they were finally… together, he’d, perhaps, grow comfortable with using handcuffs as they made love, but such things were not on his mind right now.

He was clearly just worried about her confidence (and really always had been, and had meant to try and sweep it under the rug in kissing her. Their chemistry with each other had just temporarily sent them overboard into new terrain), and legitimately thought she’d try to flee if he said even _one_ nice thing to her.

And the sad thing was that not long ago, he probably would have been right to make that assessment.

“Is this something you ever did with Prompto? When you were kids, I mean? It just feels like one of you probably would do the magic trick where you try to un-handcuff from one another… but probably messed it up, so the two of you were stuck together for a long time?”

Yes: there was absolutely nothing kinky about this at all, Luna tried to lie to herself.

And maybe partly because part of her was trying to flashback to Caligo once again now. But not that it was his fault. He had no idea of the things that haunted her past, after all, and that was Luna’s choice: for better or for worse.

Noctis had probably just done this kind of thing as a kid—in a childish way—and had messed it up, like she’d just guessed.

…Now was probably his one chance to get it right and redeem himself, in his eyes, so he was probably still seeing this all in a youthful way.

But even though Luna was aware of that situation, she couldn’t help wishing for the contrary somewhat.

And she was partly ashamed of herself for it, but she also told that side of her to shut up—as she did actually end up rolling her eyes at herself, and burying her head against the pillow some.

If she had been with Caligo, of course, this- this would have been the stuff of nightmares.

But with Noctis? Luna found herself wanting it very badly—and she had to chew on the side of her mouth before she could beg him to take her then and there, because she didn’t know how much time they’d have before his friends surely barged in.

It was funny just what a change of person, and giving someone free will, could do.

“So- so what’s the first thing you’re going to tell me?”

Noctis reached forward and brushed a strand of Luna’s hair out of her face, but she didn’t get her hopes up by it too much: he was just trying to get some chocolate out of her hair, it seemed.

“That I suck at using big words. Completely. Or even knowing them… So I love that you complete me that way? And if I ever don’t know something, I can just ask you and _not_ use a dictionary? Well, you _and_ Ignis…”

Though hearing this _did_ make Luna feel like a woman wanted—which felt like nirvana, after she had doubted something like this could ever be—and she awkwardly scratched her nose for it, whilst smiling… she did have to shove Noctis with her free hand.

If she didn’t know better, she would have said he got that line from an episode of “Boy Meets World”… not that Luna watched much television:

But she did recall an instance where two boys had gone on a date with cute sisters. The boys had messed everything up in trying to switch around their dates—as they had wanted ladies who were exactly like them—but the women had expressed how they wanted their _opposites_ : The sister who wasn’t good at vocabulary didn’t want to look up words _with_ someone, but for someone to be able to tell her what they meant! And wasn’t that exactly what Noctis was saying right now?

And as if he’d read her mind, Noctis said with the utmost sincerity: “I meant that, Luna.”  
  
His face was hovering over hers now, and Luna could practically feel her eyes growing darker—as her pupils dilated—as lusty thoughts once again entered her mind.

“Huh,” was all she could manage to say, as she was completely taken aback by his honesty and the love for her that she saw in his eyes.

But even if Luna did want this—all of this. And all of him… more than she’d ever thought possible before—she couldn’t help feeling they were moving much too fast.

And wouldn’t the gods surely strike her with lightning on the spot, if they knew how close she was to giving up her duty now?

So trying to pull herself back to reality, Luna looked out the window. And seeing herself reflected there was… interesting.

With the glint of the light almost making it impossible for her to figure out what was happening in the scene with her and Noctis, if she hadn’t known for herself, Luna could have almost believed she was trying to jump into a train car for freedom… but was dangerously getting close to falling off it once she got there, and getting rammed to death by the pilot device in the front.

It was a strange thing to think, to be sure.

…Luna had considered many awful things in her life.

And though some probably would have said these imaginings were pure insanity on her part, she herself begged to differ.

She rather thought that it was daydreaming like this that had _kept_ her sane in such a broken world.

“Luna?” Noctis asked now, clearly on edge, Luna thought. He must have seen the faraway look in her eyes…

“Sorry, my Noctis.” Luna said, swiftly coming back to the present—what she’d been aiming for all along, before she’d gotten caught up in thoughts of locomotives. “I just- I find that this is a day plagued by slaves: I got here in freeing the Tenebrae servants, that Niflheim soldiers kept behind locked doors…

“And thinking about Bella earlier, I can’t help wondering if the four of us were slaves to destiny in that whole ordeal.

“…In a lot of ways, I’m a slave to the trauma of my own life.

“And right now… while your intentions are as pure as white snow, I am your prisoner. Am I not?”

Luna had not meant the last in accusatory way at all:

She’d mainly been teasing, and trying to explain to Noctis what her ever drifting thoughts were.

But in the end, Luna supposed she should have guessed that Noctis would release her immediately—so fast that she almost got whiplash from it—as he fell to the foot of the bed, and placed soft kisses upon her feet. “I’m sorry, Luna. Six, I’m so fucking sorry. I don’t know- I don’t know how I can ever make this up to you. Fuck. I don’t know if I even _can_ , but I-”

In some ways, it was sort of… sweet, how Noctis was now throwing himself at her feet like this.

It was as if Luna had her title of princess back—unlike the mockery it really was to her now, when she no longer had a kingdom to call her own—and he was acting accordingly:

He was a royal throwing himself down prostrate, to beg forgiveness from a ruling monarch they’d offended.

But as Luna tangled her hands in Noctis’ hair, as one glistening tear fell down his cheek, she found herself daydreaming of something much more magical than that:  
  
A future where Noctis leaned down like this in order to kiss her tummy, when it was rounded with child.

…Lunafreya meant to tell Noctis that what had just happened between them was no big deal—and she would happily be his slave of love forever, if he wanted it… even if that wasn’t what had been going on here: How she longed to hear more of his sweet nothings in her ears…—but she never got the chance to.

Instead, Luna saw Noctis finding himself again—getting to his feet, with determination and ice in his eyes as he regarded her… it even reminded Luna of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on—and the look he’d been wearing disappeared the moment she’d seen it.

The next thing Luna knew, Noctis was grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door.

As the smell of bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, and even the marshmallows from Lucky Charms hit Luna’s nose, she figured that it was probably breakfast time now…

And Noct, in knowing how Luna had been a prisoner in Niflheim for twelve years, was probably now preparing to give her the breakfast of all breakfasts to show her that he saw her as nothing but his equal.

…

Luna was putting some vanilla ice cream on her toast—in a kitchen with gorgeous white and blue diamonds were painted everywhere, upon literal ice itself _and_ marble—when Ignis came in with some orange juice for her.

It was just Ignis, because she had no doubt that the other chocobros—as she’d heard Cindy call them—were still asleep:

She would have chortled for this, were she not so annoyed with Noctis at the moment.

And, yes: the orange juice that Ignis had brought in was for her specifically:

The Oracle could immediately tell so, when the advisor explained that she should be careful to not drink it too soon after she’d brushed her teeth: otherwise, the taste she’d get from that would be absolutely dreadful.

Really… that was one of the first things anyone ever learned when they were starting to eat breakfast, and Luna wanted to know why he’d think she was unaware of it.

Did he think he was walking on eggshells with her when it came to her abuse by Niflheim, too?

And as Luna became more and more annoyed at suddenly being coddled like this, she thought long and hard about whether or not she could summon weapons like Noctis could…

Perhaps if she focused on her fork long enough, she could get it to turn into her trident.

She’d then gleefully brandish it in front of Noctis and Ignis both—the way a professor might do that with a teaching stick, when it came to their students.

“My life… my life was not as bad as all that. Ignis,

“I’m sure that Noctis has now told you he thinks he’s jumpstarted my repressed memories, but that’s not- that’s not the case.

“And Noctis… you can stop referring to me as ‘your grace’ now.”

Okay, Luna was actually lying about some of that…

Even if she _was_ offended by how rough Ignis thought she’d had it, he wasn’t exactly _wrong_ about it.

And there even _had_ been a time she’d forgotten the wonders of orange juice and tooth paste by themselves (though, oddly, not how awful the two were together), as she’d been locked in that dark room with Caligo for so long…

She’d become the Oracle at thirteen… The youngest Oracle in history, even, but Niflheim hadn’t wanted to wait even one year for that to happen.

When she was twelve, they’d wanted her to ascend _then_.

And when she hadn’t, they had decided to try and make an Oracle breeder out of here instead.

But things had gotten better… much better. Largely because of Ravus.

And thinking of Ravus now, had Luna pressing onto the star she’d added to her necklace just for him.

How she prayed he was all right…

“The lady doth protest too much.”

Noctis, without a doubt, had tried to say this jokingly—the way Luna had meant to say her own words to him that way: the words that had started all of this.

There was also a glint in his eye as he said it: one that Luna was beginning to gather was about some funny Prompto memories in the back of his mind.

And Luna, as foolish as it was… was jealous of that glint.

And now she was even discreetly pulling at her hair because of it: it was a bad habit she’d picked up, when she’d grown to hate herself some…

Luna knew that Noctis had probably looked much the same way when he’d viewed some of her Entries in the Notebook before…

But right now… right now she couldn’t seem to get him to laugh at _all_ : Things were just becoming more and more anguish between them.

The Oracle had to ponder if it was the secrets she kept from him that were causing this, the ones that tied around her heart like a weight.

“I’ll admit, that one can learn to love their misery. And perhaps _I_ did… Because even when I wanted to escape Tenebrae more than anything else in this world… and to get to you—before Insomnia’s fall, and before Ravus messed that plan up—I _did_ think I was going to miss the rusty and tetanus-inducing clock tower I’d come to love to sit on there. And the people I’d saved more than once.

“But more than that… I relished in the feel of the new clothes I bought for myself… that I’d mainly gotten just for you to see, Noctis, I won’t deny it, but also so I could hide my identity on the train. And if that doesn’t show I’m fine… I don’t know what will. That by comparison with what was truly good, I _could_ see what was better and _did_ try to escape my torment.”

Ignis was worrying his lip at this, Luna could see—and his bagel was slipping from his grasp more and more, as his teeth went deeper and deeper into his skin.

Luna’s breath hitched in her throat; and for a heartbeat, she wondered if Ignis might bleed out from his actions.

But Noctis—dear Noctis—he was back on her side now, wasn’t he?

It made no sense that he understood her as he did—or that he could be okay with this? Why was he not fancying the girls who would throw themselves at him, with only thoughts of what sort of benefits they could get from it in their heads?—but he did.

And it showed.

Reaching across the table to where Ignis was, Noctis slapped his friend upside the head once to get him to stop hurting himself.

“It’s as Luna says, Ignis. She’s perfect. Don’t worry yourself into an early grave for her. After all, you once said I was more concerned about Luna than anyone else was. I have that right… so _let_ me be so now, and let me bear this burden.”

As empowered as Luna was by Noctis’ speech here—so much so, that she put her hand on his shoulder and tapped there numerous times: a signal that she loved him, and that he was hers—she also wanted to scream to the universe that it _wasn’t_ a burden, and _she_ wasn’t a burden, but one step at a time.

“Okay, so maybe coming down here was a mistake. Do you want to go back up to our room now, Luna?”

The blonde nodded once at that, and it was all it took.

And deciding to try and behave more lady-like—her emotions had just gotten the best of her, so she hadn’t been doing so for a while now—she let Noctis pull her chair out, hold her hand once more, and pad with her back towards the elevator.

But before that, she made sure to send a cursory smile and bow Ignis’ way.

She truly had no qualms with him. He had just reminded her of Nyx some, was all…

Nyx, in their long night together, had never really been able to grasp Luna or how much the world meant to her.

And how many times had he scoffed at her?

And mayhap it was unfair to compare Ignis to Nyx—or to think of Nyx negatively at all. Astrals bless his soul, how she loved and missed her one true friend—because she and Ignis had only had one meeting thus far, really… but Luna couldn’t help the feeling she had in her heart:

Nor could she deny to herself now just how much she loved Noctis, and that he was truly her soul mate.

She’d even decided that before the next truth came from him… but when she heard it, it only cemented this notion more; and a slight smile played upon her lips for it.

“Luna,” Noctis said, once they were in the lift again—with his hands in his pockets, as he ducked his head and flushed. “I feel like I shouldn’t get what you went through at all. Or what you currently are… Don’t bite my head off for this… but most people would probably put you in a psych ward after what you just said.

“But first off? …My life in Lucis wasn’t exactly fantastic. How could it be? When I was livid every second of every day for what was happening to _you_ , that I could do nothing about. Livid with myself, even… My dad also sheltered me as fuck… and made me lead a normal life.

“And I’m not complaining about that part, I guess, but do you know how royally screwed I was as a waiter? People wanted to bend me to their goddamn wills, since they knew their entire life they’d be under _me_ …

“Not that it was all bad. Or that it was like your shitty life at all.

“But even with all of that, do I hate my life? Fuck, no. And did I miss it when I was taken from me? Uhh, yeah.

“So I guess I can kind of get why you’d be the same way. I mean, I _did_ see you curing people on TV. And you seemed happy...

“I’ve also read the Lover’s Notebook, and I know that the most poetic and beautiful thoughts are at the forefront of your mind.

“And damn, do I love you and are you okay. If you were batshit crazy, those things wouldn’t have been what I was seeing. I would have been seeing… Well, probably crap like I’m saying now. I don’t know.

“So I get it, Luna. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. And I’m not going to treat you any differently anymore. If anything-”

“ _If anything, I just love you more for everything_ ,” Luna knew he would have finished the sentence that way, if he hadn’t lost his confidence at the last second.

Noctis had already said he’d loved her in that speech, but Luna wondered if he’d even caught it with how much he’d started to ramble.

They’d, of course, written that they loved each other in their notes to each other...

But saying it in real life, person to person, was different.

The elevator door dinged and slid open, taking them back to their floor, but neither person moved to get out.

And where earlier today, Luna had fought hard to keep her emotions bottled up—even around the most special person in the world—she _couldn’t_ do so now.

Suddenly she was sobbing—and burying her face in Noct’s chest, as she all but jumped into his arms—he was just so much _good_ in a world so bad.

Though there _had_ been many times that Luna had ever doubted that anyone could reassure her like Noctis just had.

Ravus never would, as he was completely against her mission.

Gentiana, as much as she was a goddess to Luna, cared _mostly_ about the Oracle’s mission.

Maria saw only the girl that Luna once was, and not the broken one she was now.

Nyx hadn’t understood…

And sometimes, Luna didn’t even think she understood _herself_.

She tried to figure out if she was so obsessed with her Calling because it had been placed on her at such a young age—and was really all she’d ever known—or perhaps because it connected her to her mother…

There were even dark moments when Luna thought maybe she just wanted to die, to escape it all when she didn’t see her life getting any better.

There had been… such darkness around her, and Luna could only see that now.

And she’d almost forgotten… almost forgotten that there was also a light reason for everything she was doing:

She just wanted to save this star, and the people who had become family to her on it.

And though Noctis didn’t know the truth.

Yet.

Luna guessed that when she told him it, he would see everything in much the same way that she did… and want to join in.

Being in Noctis’ arms like this, Luna didn’t feel like a slave anymore:

She felt whole.

…And that was very clear, in how she began jumping up and down while still holding onto Noct.

The prince laughed at her change in demeanor—cupped her face in his hands—and whispered her name in an amused manner, as he gave her an Eskimo kiss.

Luna continued her leaping—and almost feared that she’d send the lift plummeting down moreso than it was meant to, when it began moving down once more in time with her movements.

And when she was up in the air, almost flying with the current motions—closer to Noctis’ ear—she whispered something to her Light of the Night Sky, and gave him something she’d always wanted for herself and had just gotten:

Freedom.

**Author's Note:**

> (1) The character “Bella” is a character I made up, based on that one girl standing beside Gentiana in the FFXV—or rather, the Versus XIII—concept art. Some people don’t think she’s Stella, because her design looks so different, but I think she is. I think Ferrari was just trying out different designs with Stella. But I decided to play with the idea of her not being Stella here, but rather someone else here, because why not? I might do more with her in the future, if I do more back story stuff for Ravus and Luna. We’ll see.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. And happy Valentine’s Day! I actually wrote this for that.
> 
> This isn’t… exactly what I planned. I think I actually was originally going to have something lighter and fluffier. And way less smutty. But then my majorly fucked up Luna showed up, and we got this. And I can’t say I’m completely unhappy with the results?
> 
> I actually really like this, I think, so I hope you guys do. I like delving deep into characters’ minds…
> 
> And in writing this, I think I kind of realized one of the reasons the Noctluna ship is compatible with each other, which I hadn’t before. Yep.
> 
> Also, there was a moment where I was going to have Noctis reach for a knife instead of the handcuffs—and this was basically going to turn into that bit from The Mortal Instruments, where Jace tries to stab Clary while they’re doing steamy stuff together. Because he’s getting all possessed—but I decided NOT to do that, and I’m glad for it. XD
> 
> Some of this was probably inspired by Dark Angel, because I’ve been watching that show lately (also inspired by how Daenerys frees some slaves in Game of Thrones, and an AU idea that I’ve had about Noctis and Luna meeting in XV for a while… that’s kind of this, but also not).
> 
> In fact, I think Dark Angel’s even where the handcuffs came from. Because in Max and Logan’s faux-sex scene, there are handcuffs there—even though they don’t use them at all?—and I think I subconsciously remembered that when writing this.
> 
> Oh, and Noctis and Luna are going to stay warm in their room by *ahem*... other means, now that by the end of this thing they're on the same page and better together than they ever have been before;)
> 
> Shutting up now.
> 
> -Shanna


End file.
